1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to food plates and beverage containers (i.e. glasses) and, in particular, to a plate and glass assembly that enables a user to hold both the plate and glass simultaneously with only one hand.
2. Description of the Related Art
Plates and glasses are often used to serve food and beverages. As used in this application, the term "plate" refers to any standard means for holding food, such as a typical plate or dish having a substantially flat surface and bottom and a rim, and also includes items such as trays, platters, or other devices upon which food may be placed and that are small enough to be held with one hand. Plates may be constructed of any material suitable for holding food, and have a top or food-receiving surface or side and a lower or bottom surface or side. As used in this application, the term "glass" refers to any type of beverage container, typically of cylindrical shape with a circular-shaped mouth, and includes stemmed and non-stemmed standard glasses as well as beverage cans and cups used to hold beverages. Glasses may be constructed of any material suitable for holding a beverage, such as glass, plastic, metal, or china. In the case of a beverage can, for example, the can typically has a cylindrical shape and a circular-shaped rim or mouth at the top end, as well as a drink opening hole just below the mouth.
Food and beverages are consumed by humans in a variety of social settings or functions. For example, in parties or other social functions, food and drink are often served in a buffet setting in which there is little or no access to tables or to a suitable place to rest plates and/or glasses. This causes difficulties, since one hand is needed to hold the plate and the other hand used to eat, making it difficult to also hold the glass. Those foods requiring the use of utensils are particularly difficult to handle. This may cause food to be spilled and/or drink to be spilled.
Additionally, in social or business functions, it is often desirable to engage in customary greetings involving the shaking of hands or the exchange of business cards. Holding a plate and a beverage container while trying to consume the food and also participate in the normal conduct of greeting and exchanging business cards is very awkward.
One placed in this situation may decide to forego the food and simply drink, or alternatively to forego the drink and content oneself with the food. Alternatively, one may consume both the drink and the food but do so sequentially, i.e., finish doing one before starting the other, rather than doing both more or less simultaneously as would be most desirable. Participants in such functions or situations also typically resort to other practices in an effort to cope with the aforementioned problem, such as:
placing food or drink onto furniture not designed for that purpose (e.g. pianos, mantel, fine furniture, etc.), or even onto the floor, which may require the user bending down and placing the glass on the floor while eating food from the plate; PA1 holding the plate and drink container with one hand, which may cause one or both to be dropped or food or beverage spilled; PA1 placing the drink container on the plate; or PA1 placing the plate on the drink container.
None of these solutions has proved to be entirely satisfactory. Furniture can be easily ruined by the activity described above. Holding a plate and drink with one hand may be possible, but is usually difficult and results in an unstable arrangement, since a glass placed on a plate or a plate placed on a glass is typically unstable. Thus, resorting to these coping tactics can create an uncomfortable feeling for fear of losing control and spilling food and drink, often in a setting where such an accident can be quite embarrassing.
There is thus a widely recognized need for a convenient and inexpensive means for addressing this problem, i.e. for simultaneously holding a plate and a glass while using only one hand, thereby freeing the other hand to carry out such tasks as manipulating a fork or shaking hands in greeting. These problems may be collectively referred to herein, for convenience, as the "buffet problem." Various techniques have been utilized in an attempt to address this problem. A number of these techniques involve mechanically securing the plate to the glass or the glass to the plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,820, issued Oct. 29, 1991 to Boerner, for example, discloses a plate the bottom surface of which is modified so as to include one or more members capable of extending downward from the bottom of the plate and fitting over or along a beverage container and which may be grasped with the same hand used for grasping the beverage container. However, the protruding members may be aesthetically unpleasing or otherwise undesirable, or difficult to manipulate. Setting down a plate having protruding members may be difficult, for example, since the plate may no longer have a sufficiently flat bottom surface.
Additionally, in the prior art devices in which the glass is held securely to the plate, such as Boerner, there is a possibility of upsetting the plate if the drink container is stuck or otherwise held tightly to the plate. For example, with the system taught in Boerner, it can be difficult to switch from eating to drinking since, when removing the glass from the member on the bottom of the plate, the user must manipulate the fingers of one hand from holding onto the tabs and glass to just holding the glass while grasping the plate with the other hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,028, issued Mar. 8, 1994 to Patterson, describes a plate assembly having a glass holder formed on the underside thereof, where the plate assembly comprises a plate holder adapted to hold a separate disposable plate. One disadvantage of Patterson's assembly is that a separate plate holder is required in addition to the plate, and the glass holder formed thereunder may not be aesthetically appropriate in some settings. Additionally, the glass holder may make it difficult to set down the assembly when one is done using it.
Patterson also describes various previously-proposed assemblies for eliminating the need to use both hands to carry a plate and a glass. One such assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,240,020, issued Apr. 29, 1941 to Raiser. That assembly includes a plate having a central aperture for a cup and a hollow handle which extends downwardly from the cup-receiving receptacle. Although this device permits one to carry both the plate and cup with one hand, one disadvantage of this technique is that liquid can readily slosh over the open top of the cup and onto the food. Additionally, the food on the plate can easily come into contact with and foul the exterior of the drinking cup; and food may slosh through the opening in the plate and pass through the hollow handle onto an underlying table or lap.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,920,804, issued Jan. 12, 1960 to Minton, discloses a somewhat similar assembly in which a hollow sleeve forms a receptacle for a glass. This sleeve is joined to a plate component by a bead which releasably engages a flange on the plate. U.S. Pat. No. D 211,532, issued Jun. 25, 1968 to Ashton, discloses a serving tray having an overall configuration very similar to that of Minton. U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,672, issued May 11, 1976 to Brundage, discloses another plate having a hole in which an open cup is set. In this case, the plate has a channel for balancing the plate on the user's forearm while he grasps the lower end of the cup.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,396, issued Jul. 24, 1984 to Harper, discloses a plate having a recess for the lower end of a glass in its upper surface. The user's thumb protrudes upwardly through a hole in the plate and presses against the base of the glass to retain it in the recess. This arrangement shares disadvantages with the devices disclosed in the patents cited above. For example, momentary relief of the thumb pressure may allow the glass to become dislodged; the drink can easily slosh out of the glass and onto the food; the food can slosh through the hole in the plate; and the food contained on the plate can easily get on the outside of the glass.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,688,992, issued Oct. 23, 1928 to Smith, discloses a cup and saucer combination in which the saucer may either support or cover the cup without sliding about, through the use of protruding shoulders formed into the plate. U.S. Pat. No. 2,565,912, issued Aug. 28, 1951 to Davis, discloses a watercolor paint set in which the palette has a center portion that rests in the mouth of a water container, through the use of protruding flanges and ribs formed into the plate. These devices and techniques have similar disadvantages as disclosed above. For example, the protruding flanges or shoulders may be aesthetically unpleasing or otherwise undesirable.
Another disadvantage of some of the above prior art plate-and-glass holder techniques is that it may be relatively expensive to mold separate components, such as glass holders, shoulders, flanges, ribs, and the like, formed into the bottom of a plate or plate holder. Additionally, glasses come in various types having different diameter mouths at their open, upper end. This can lead to the need for different glass holders of different sizes for different plates, diminishing the versatility or usefulness of these prior art approaches. Further, where molds are required for the glass holder portions, different molds must be employed for each different glass mouth size and shape, which can cause further expense.
Additionally, some of these techniques involve relatively complex structures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,274, issued Mar. 22, 1988 to Bouton, discloses a portable tray table having a cup holder included integrally in the tray. The cup holder can be grasped by one hand to support the tray. However, the tray structure is very complex and would be expensive to produce. Additionally, using complex structures can require the use of construction materials formed from rigid substances, which may not always be desirable, for example with disposable plates.
Techniques in which the cup holder is in the middle of a tray robs the tray of some of the prime space which could have been utilized for the holding of food. Placing glasses on top of plates is similarly disadvantageous since space that could be used for food is taken up by the glass. Additionally, the food may come into contact with the glass, as mentioned above, and such arrangements may be unstable. Techniques in which plates have drink holders attached to the side of the plate create torque and make it more difficult to hold the plate with the drink at the end of a lever arm.
Accordingly, previous techniques designed to address the aforementioned buffet problem are accompanied by various disadvantages. There is, therefore, a need for a convenient and inexpensive way of simultaneously holding both a food plate and a glass using only one hand that overcomes the disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art.